April 20, 2012

Had to be out the door at 7am today to drive to the White River visitor's center for the south unit of Badlands. The plan was to meet our ride there, though we ended up driving further and met up elsewhere. A really nice Lakota man who works out in the south unit drove us on the bumpy two track out to the end of Stronghold Table. The Tables I mention are sod tables, areas where erosion happened in a way that left a larger chunk of rock intact and flat on top. The prairie grasses cover these tables. Anyhow, Stronghold table is named for historical events including the massacres at Wounded Knee which led to native people fleeing Pine Ridge by night to try to meet up with family and return home, further north. The US cavalry discovered some, and gave chase. Stronghold table had just one way to climb up and reach the top. The people protected that spot, and in the end successfully fought off and escaped the cavalry. Later, in the 1990s, some members of the grassroots movements set up camp on Stronghold. Steven and I hiked around the edge of the table, and found a small game trail that led down and across to another table via a steep, narrow ridge. Beautiful. On the drive in, our guide pointed out a gully we bumped across. It stretched far to both sides in a curve: an old target eteched in the earth from when the US used this area as a bombing range. Terrible history there, too. This land was reservation land, with many people living in the area. In the 1940s, the government gave all the people 10 days' notice to evacuate, they were going to use the land for target practice. Not everyone got the message. Our guide told a story of his grandfather who was living there, did not get notified to move, and one day heard bombers flying in. He quick grabbed some things and loaded his wagon, and as he drove away the bombs were falling. You can still find unexploded ordnance in the south unit and surrounding area. After this, Steven and I drove over to Redshirt Table, hiked around, and took photographs. Both these areas were sites for some of the last Ghost Dances in the late 1800s. Beautiful views of Harney Peak all day. Our guide out to Stronghold offered to bring us back to some other locations on monday, which I'm really looking forward to. Hoping to also get to Palmer Creek yet. For dinner we met up with Ed and drove to Rapid to visit the British pub, then get groceries.

On a side note, some of the Interior students' artwork is on the Badlands' flickr site. There are paintings the kids did with me. The rest should be uploaded next week.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/badlandsnationalpark/sets/72157629494883102/